Mail and Travel by Stage Coach

This mural depicts the early days of California mail delivery when passengers and mail traveled on the same coach.  Four men perch on top of the vehicle while more well-heeled passengers enjoy seats in the coach’s interior.  In the center the direct gaze of the woman in blue seems to acknowledge the presence of an external viewer.  To the left stands a miner with pick-axe and burro and to the right a mother with two young children balances the triangular composition.  The older child is curiously garbed in European dress with a plumed hat, perhaps a nod to the artist’s Spanish roots.  At the bottom a dog turns to observe the coach, his arched neck echoing the curvature of the wheel.  As common with governmental commissions for Post Offices from this era local history is referenced by the inclusion of the Old Stockton Miner’s Store, visible at the far right of the mural.